No excuses, Arkansas judge tells Hunter Biden; orders March appearance in state

FILE - In this Oct. 11, 2012, file photo, Hunter Biden waits for the start of the his father's, Vice President Joe Biden's, debate at Centre College in Danville, Ky. In 2014, then-Vice President Joe Biden was at the forefront of American diplomatic efforts to support Ukraine's fragile democratic government as it sought to fend off Russian aggression and root out corruption. So it raised eyebrows when Biden's son Hunter was hired by a Ukrainian gas company. President Donald Trump prodded Ukraine's president to help him investigate any corruption related to Joe Biden, now one of the top Democrats seeking to defeat Trump in 2020. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File)

Circuit Judge Holly Meyer is ordering Hunter Biden to come to Arkansas next month for a deposition, rejecting claims that he’s too busy to make the trip until April.

“He needs to make himself available and unless his hair is on fire, he needs to be in Arkansas and he needs to be in a deposition,” she told lawyers in the case during an afternoon telephone conference call.

Biden, son of Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, is the defendant in a paternity suit brought by Lunden Alexis Roberts of Independence County. The court determined in January that Hunter Biden is the father of a toddler, initially referred to as Baby Doe. Child support still needs to be set.

Roberts’ attorney, Clint Lancaster, had tried, without success, to schedule a deposition prior to a pretrial hearing, which is set for March 13.

After reaching an impasse, he filed a notice of deposition Monday instructing Biden to appear in Little Rock on March 5.

But Biden’s attorney, Brent Langdon, said it would be “unduly burdensome and oppressive,” for the former vice president’s son to show up on that day. Langdon asked the court to intervene.

Hunter Biden “can be available April 1, 2020,” Langdon wrote in a Motion to Quash and Motion for Protective Order filed Tuesday. “My client cannot be available prior to that date.”

“My question to you is, why could your client not be available until after April 1? All the information I have is that he’s unemployed,” she said.

Biden will need to show up on either March 11 or March 12 to answer questions, the judge stated.

“I’m not representing to the court his availability on those two days, but understand the court’s order,” Langdon replied.

Read Thursday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for the full story.

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